A detective sergeant found the name of a man allegedly hired to kill a Wicklow publican in an address book under a newspaper he had picked up to read, a court heard yesterday.
It was the seventh day of prosecution evidence against Mrs Catherine Nevin (48), who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of her husband, Tom Nevin (54), on March 19th, 1996, in their home at Jack White's Inn, Ballinapark, Co Wicklow.
She has also pleaded not guilty to soliciting John Jones, in 1989, and Gerry Heapes and William McLean, in 1990, to murder her husband.
Det. Sgt Fergus O'Brien told the Central Criminal Court he and Det. Garda Joe Collins spoke to Mrs Nevin on April 12th, 1996.
"She left us in the sitting-room and went out, and I noticed a newspaper on the table there and I picked it up to read it, and underneath it I noticed Catherine's diary," he told the jury.
He said the book was open and he saw the name Gerry Heapes and a telephone number. "It was a name I was familiar with and I thought it was unusual to see it in that book," he said.
Det. Sgt O'Brien said when he saw the phone book a month later, on May 19th, 1996, the name and number had been "scribbled out front and back".
Defence counsel Mr Patrick MacEntee SC has told the court the name and number were written after Heapes called the inn to rent a room. They were removed when Mr Nevin had an argument with him.
Det. Sgt O'Brien said Mrs Nevin told gardai she had "vital" information on May 31st, 1996.
She said that she had a private investigator working on the case but that information on the street was not forthcoming.
On June 1st, 1996, the investigator was talking to former thieves, she allegedly told the gardai.
"I felt that on that occasion she was showing signs of stress," Det. Sgt O'Brien said. "Her eyes were blinking and jumping a lot, similar to at the time of the murder."
The case continues.